As we all know the advent of late autumn and to a greater extent winter brings a severe drop in temperature, this drop in temperature is visible to the eye in the form of ground frosts, freezing fog or snow/ice.
By the time that the temperature has dropped by this extent the flora has already taken the hit, the trees are typically bare and there’s very little for most animals to eat – it’s at this time of the year then that a number of species hibernate.
Bees do not.
Like silk moths, man has modified the behavior of these creatures in such a way as to remove a natural instinct, in this case the instinct to hibernate; This then means that they show little activity over the winter months but are none the less awake.
So what actually happens in a hive during winter?
The short answer is that things get very cold, the queen lays very few eggs and everyone stays home and watches TV (because it’s too cold to go out).
In physical terms the colony forms a ball (technically called a grape) around the queen, the idea being to maintain as much body heat as possible.
This means that the bees on the edge of the ball are the ones who will die first because of the cold but the queen will hopefully remain quite snug.
This also means that the bees will eat all of the food beneath their feet first and then have to move away from the ball (or move on mass) in order to find more food – if it is too cold potentially they will starve (even if they are just a couple of centimeters away from the food).
So what is the experiment?
I have decided that this year I will insulate the exterior of my hives (with the exception of one which will act as a control subject) - see pictures below.
The theory is that by insulating three sides of the hive (sides and back) the hive will not become as cold as it would ordinarily.
But because I am not insulating the front of the hive I am not stopping the hive temperature dropping at all.
There are a couple of pros and cons to this theory, they are:
Pros
The colony wont get as cold as normal and so less bee will die (hopefully), this means when spring comes they will be in a better state to move forward.
The bees being slightly warmer should mean that they are less likely to suffer starvation whilst in the hive because it will be warm enough for them to explore the hive.
If more bees are alive for longer then anything else that might attack the hive will have a harder time (like the wax moth)
Cons
If more of them are surviving then they will eat more
It is possible that a colony could run out of food and all starve
Any pests that are in the hive will also have an easier winter (such as Varroa)
As you can see there are potential pitfalls to this experiment but I’m confident that this method will allow my colonies to emerge from the winter in a stronger state.
You’ll also notice from the picture above that the insulation protrudes from the front of the hive, this is also a ‘feature’ of the insulation.
A large part of the heating problem for the colony doesn’t come directly from the fact that the temperature is low but rather from the chill factor of the wind, so the insulation protrudes thus ensuring that the hive entrance is a little more protected from the wind (although in actual fact the wind can still get in, it just has to hit the hive at a more acute angle to do the same damage).
If you’re wondering why there isn’t a picture of the ‘grape’ it’s because opening the hive at less than 5 degrees is a real no-no and could well result in the colony dieing or suffering.
You'll also notice that I leave the doors of the hives open a little, a number of bee keepers believe that the doors should be shut - BUT - this means that if they run out of food they can't get out (weather permitting) to get more. That's why I leave the doors open a little.
We will see in the spring if this experiment has had any effect and if so, if the effect was good or bad.
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